The Compliance Institute Nigeria (CIN), in partnership with the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), has concluded plans to train compliance officers from various financial institutions across the country, starting from tomorrow.
The two-day event billed for Lagos and Abuja aims at enhancing the knowledge, skills and expertise of Anti-Money Laundering and counter- terrorism financing with a view to preparing Nigerian compliance officers for the forthcoming FATF mutual evaluation.
The workshop, which focuses on “North Korea Sanctions and Counter-Proliferation Compliance” and targets compliance officers in Nigeria, will hold on the 21st and 22nd August, 2019 in Lagos and Abuja respectively.
Speaking on the essence of the workshop in Lagos, the CIN President, Pattison Boleigha, said, “The workshop is designed to provide practical advice for compliance officers on North Korea sanctions and counter-proliferation finance standards.
“It would cover key aspects of compliance, including presentation on common typologies of North Korean sanctions evasion activities with case studies in Africa; presentation on risk indicators that governments, banks and financial institutions can use to evaluate North Korea sanctions risks posed by specific types of customers and specific types of transactions as well as presentation on sanctions compliance best practices in general.
“Other areas of coverage include conducting due diligence into potential North Korea-linked activities and companies and on useful open-source information on North Korea sanctions and sanctions evasion techniques.”
He added that the workshop would provide an opportunity for Compliance Officers from Nigeria to gain insights into relevant international sanctions regulations, counter-proliferation finance standards, evasion typologies, and risk indicators that will assist financial institutions in detecting and preventing North Korean sanctions evasion and complying with relevant United Nations sanctions on North Korea.
“This could not have come at a better time, with the increased incidences of correspondence banks de-risking of African banks and sometimes entire countries due to thinning of margins and poor anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction controls,” he noted.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Planning Committee on Media, Abimbola Adeseyoju, said “the workshop will provide advice for participants on overview of United Nations Security Council Resolutions and other relevant international-level sanctions on North Korea, including FATF Recommendations on countering proliferation-finance.
“Other key aspects of the workshop are presentations on North Korea business activities in Africa and typologies of North Korean sanctions evasion tactics, foundations of effective sanctions compliance relevant across sanctions, programmes and presentation on using publicly-available information in sanctions compliance and enforcement.
“The workshop will also include breakout sessions focused on specific case studies.”
The Compliance Institute, Nigeria would also launch its collaborations with the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) – the largest international membership organization dedicated to enhancing the knowledge and expertise of financial crime detection and prevention professionals – on August 22.
